Poughkeepsie

Poughkeepsie Businesses

Yes, the moniker rivals Hoboken and Kalamazoo as the butt of jokes. But Poughkeepsie should not be discounted because of a clumsy name (which means, in the local Indian dialect, “the reed-covered lodge by the little water place”). This is the unofficial capital of the Hudson Valley, the largest urban center in the area, home to Vassar and Marist, Poughkeepsie Day School and the Oakwood Friends School, the Bardavon and the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, a gorgeous train station and, most significantly, the offices of this fine publication. IBM’s main plant, where the famous supercomputer Big Blue was built, is here, as is Locust Grove, once the estate of inventor Samuel F. B. Morse and now a great and relatively undiscovered place to take a stroll. The Chance and Bananas are the Valley’s best-known rock and comedy clubs, respectively. The Poughkeepsie Journal is the oldest newspaper in the state and the third-oldest in the country. And the city that gave us Ed Wood and Delilah Strong can’t be all bad.